


Worry

by Pallas_Athena



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Book 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth, F/M, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, percy annabeth tension/angst, pre dating percabeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 01:39:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5724667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pallas_Athena/pseuds/Pallas_Athena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things Percy said to Grover when he was scared and thought Annabeth was asleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worry

**Author's Note:**

> this was from an ask box "send me a number and a ship" meme from my tumblr @romanzhang and this was so much fun to write! comments/kudos greatly appreciated :)  
> (I listened to the Vamps new album Wake Up a lot while writing this, would highly recommend, especially the songs Worry, Wake Up, Volcanoes, and Boy without a Car.)

Annabeth shifted in her sleeping bag, desperately trying to get comfortable on the marble floor of the Labyrinth.She rolled over so her back was to Percy, and her guard went down slightly knowing he was there. If a monster came at them from one of the tunnels looming before their small camp, they would fight back to back, protecting each other like always. Percy had forced her to her some rest, volunteering for the first guard watch with Grover.She couldn’t help but feel a bit frustrated that Percy was trying to be so helpful. Annabeth knew he meant well, but this was _her_ quest. _She_ should be the one giving orders. _Annabeth_ was supposed to be the leader. Time was meaningless in the Labyrinth, and she wasn’t sure how long she spent stewing over these thoughts until Grover and Percy started talking.

“Percy, stop biting your lip and just tell me what’s bugging you already.”

“Could you tell from the lip-biting or the emotion reading?” Percy’s voice was slightly muffled, like he was resting his chin in his hands.

“Both, Perce. Now spill.You’ve been kind of on edge all day.”

Annabeth realized they thought she was asleep, and she felt like an intruder, listening to Percy and Grover. it wasn’t like she hadn’t eavesdropped on people before, but it felt different when it was her friends. 

Percy let out a long sigh. “I’m just worried about all of you guys because, like, this is it. I’m turning sixteen at the end of next summer, and if Kronos comes after me, I don’t want any of you to get caught in the crossfire.I’m not doubting Annabeth taking the four of us, but it’s just more people I care about that I could lose. And I recruited Rachel, if she gets hurt, if she dies down here, her blood is on my hands! It was me that dragged her into this!”

Annabeth realized that Percy had begged her to accept Racel not because she was some mortal girl he had a crush on or that he thought she could do this better than Annabeth, but that he was desperate, grasping for anything that could save his friends. By doing that though, he also put Rachel at risk, another friend he could lose. She wanted to go over and comfort him, to tell him that with Rachel’s sight and her knowledge of the Labyrinth they would be fine, but that wasn’t even enough to reassure herself. On paper, the quest would seem simple, but once you went under, it was near impossible. There were too many dependent variables, too many things she couldn’t see coming.

Percy continued venting, once he had opened up it seemed to have brought up all the worries he’d been keeping to himself and now they flooded out of him like a river bursting its banks. She could hear him fidgeting, running his hands through his hair, thumbing the beads of his necklace. “I’ve already lost you and Tyson once, Grover, and I don’t want to lose again, Grover, I _can’t_ lose you again.” His voice cracked, and Annabeth realized just how afraid he was. Every day, he carried all this stress and anxiety over losing his friends and it somehow being his fault but he kept it hidden behind his sarcastic remarks and stupid jokes. Annabeth almost got up to hug him, but something held her back.

“If Annabeth dies, I don’t know what I’d do without her, Grover. I _need_ her. Shit, without Annabeth we’d probably be dead,or statues in Medusa’s garden. This quest is what she’s been waiting for her whole life, and if she dies without completing it, I’ll blame myself.”

Grover scraped his hoof on the ground contemplatively. “Well, I know Annabeth cares about you too, Percy, like a lot. The two of you-”

Percy groaned, cutting Grover off. “Don’t go there right now, Grover. I know what you’re gonna say, what everyone at camp has been saying. Annabeth is the best hope the camp has, her and her siblings are the best strategists we’ve got. I can’t distract her while this is war hanging over our heads! I can’t do that to her, and all the stuff with Luke, she might still have feelings for him, Grover. Not all of us are going to make it through this war, and I don’t want to put false hope in her head! As much as I might want to come on to her, we just _can’t_ right now. After the war, after Kronos is defeated, maybe. I don’t know how I would ask her, if I even live that long.” Percy was clearly done with the conversation, and him and Grover lapsed into silence.

Annabeth drew her knees to her chest, emotions in turmoil inside her. She eventually drifted off to sleep, being pulled into a nightmare she’d had a thousand times before: She and Percy were somewhere underground, hanging over the edge of a bottomless pit by a single handhold, then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and he and Annabeth fell into the endless darkness.


End file.
